ording to which Yusup Satabayev had been held in the remand prison until 1 August 2000, when he was transferred to the detention facility of the Urus-Martan VOVD.
109. Having regard to the contradictory nature of the Government's submissions and to their failure, despite the Court's requests for documents, to provide any proof of Yusup Satabayev's release on either 1 or 14 August 2000, the Court finds it established that he remained in continued detention under State control from 23 February 2000 onwards.
110. The Court has to decide further whether Yusup Satabayev may be presumed dead. The applicant contended that she identified one of the bodies found near the village of Goy-Chu on 22 August 2000 as her son on the basis of the video footage of the bodies before their re-burial. The Government argued that the fact of Yusup Satabayev's death had not been established.
111. The Court notes that no conclusive identification of the bodies found near the village of Goy-Chu was carried out. Accordingly, it can not establish that one of the bodies was that of Yusup Satabayev. At the same time, it observes that Yusup Satabayev disappeared after having been placed in State custody. There has been no reliable news of him since 14 August 2000. His name has not been found in any official records of detention facilities after that date. Lastly, the Government did not submit any explanation as to what had happened to him during his detention.
112. Having regard to the previous cases concerning disappearances of people in Chechnya which have come before the Court (see, for example, Imakayeva, cited above, and Luluyev and Others v. Russia, No. 69480/01, ECHR 2006-...), the Court considers that, in the context of the conflict in the Chechen Republic, when a person is placed in detention without any subsequent acknowledgement of the detention, this can be regarded as life-threatening. The absence of Yusup Satabayev or any news of him for over nine years corroborates this assumption. Furthermore, the Government have failed to provide any explanation of Yusup Satabayev's disappearance and the official investigation in this respect, dragging on for nine years, has produced no tangible results.
113. Accordingly, the Court finds it established that Yusup Satabayev disappeared after 14 August 2000 while he remained in State custody and that he must be presumed dead following his unacknowledged detention.
(c) The State's compliance with Article 2
114. Article 2, which safeguards the right to life and sets out the circumstances in which deprivation of life may be justified, ranks as one of the most fundamental provisions in the Convention, to which no derogation is permitted. In the light of the importance of the protection afforded by Article 2, the Court must subject deprivation of life to the most careful scrutiny, taking into consideration not only the actions of State agents but also all the surrounding circumstances (see, among other authorities, McCann and Others v. the United Kingdom, 27 September 1995, §§ 146 - 147, Series A No. 324, and {Avsar} v. Turkey, No. 25657/94, § 391, ECHR 2001-VII (extracts)).
115. The Court has already found it established that the applicant's son must be presumed dead following his placement in State custody. Noting that the authorities do not rely on any ground of justification in respect of the use of lethal force by their agents, or otherwise accounting for his death, it follows that liability for his presumed death is attributable to the respondent Government.
116. Accordingly, the Court finds that there has been a violation of Article 2 in respect of Yusup Satabayev.
B. The alleged inadequacy of the investigation
into the abduction
1. Arguments of the parties
117. The applicant argued that the investigation had not
> 1 2 3 ... 11 12 13 ... 19 20 21
Zaki.ru законы и право
поиск по сайту
каталог документов
добавить сайт Zaki.ru в избранное
Правовые акты международные
Правовые акты Российской Федерации
